# Why we know certain inventors, and not others? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529 "2015-02-01T18:41:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/21 "2015-02-02T14:45:13Z")
Also, Dean Kamen is well-known for the Segway and other inventions. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/22 "2015-02-02T15:41:37Z")
In the past, great inventions were often the work of one genius working alone. More recently, great breakthroughs have been made by large teams working together in a large division of a large company. The lone genius makes for a better story and a better legend that hundreds of scientists working in tandem. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/23 "2015-02-02T16:37:38Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Slight hijack: What is the most recent invention that DOES have a similarly good and simple origin story? Larry and Sergey and [PageRank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank)? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/24 "2015-02-02T16:57:05Z")
There’s a variation of Carlin’s Law in a lot of “invention” stories - the first guy to slap two things together is credited as the inventor when his level of “invention” is pretty low relative to that which went into the components. Diode and triode tubes are pretty boring stuff, for example, and only an electronics historian would really much care about their invention… but Marconi stood on those shoulders and got the glory. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/25 "2015-02-02T17:30:59Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > There’s a variation of Carlin’s Law in a lot of “invention” stories - the first guy to slap two things together is credited as the inventor when his level of “invention” is pretty low relative to that which went into the components. > > Diode and triode tubes are pretty boring stuff, for example, and only an electronics historian would really much care about their invention… but Marconi stood on those shoulders and got the glory. Look at it another way. Wilbur Wright really WQS a genius, and he really did (sort of) invent the airplane. But what does it mean to invent the airplane? Did Wilbur Wright discover the laws of aerodynamics? Nah- they’d been well known for centuries, which is why MANY people had built working gliders before him. Did Wilbur Wright invent the airplane engine? Nah- lots of suitable engines were already on the market, and there was no need for Wilbur to come up with a new one. “Inventing” the airplane was a matter of combining existing knowledge and existing technologies to come up with a practical, operational finished product. That’s not as straightforward as the first caveman making the first fire. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/26 "2015-02-02T17:34:22Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Did Wilbur Wright invent the airplane engine? Nah- lots of suitable engines were already on the market, and there was no need for Wilbur to come up with a new one. My understanding may be faulty, but I thought one of the Wright’s achievements was to build a suitably light and powerful engine. While they didn’t invent any form of engine, I don’t believe they used anyone else’s model because they were all too heavy (a flaw that stymied other would-be aviators). Building a to-purpose engine was a signature part of their achievement, even though it was a refinement of existing tech. Or is that rong? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/27 "2015-02-02T17:55:17Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > This is highly dubious. > > There actually are at least semi-valid claims that others achieved powered flight before the Wrights. But the Wrights were indisputably far ahead in the area of controlled flight, which the perspective of 100+ years shows was _the_ essential step toward actual progress in aviation. > > Others were certainly working on manned flight at the same time, but it’s notable how pitiful were their efforts toward proper 3-aris control, which the Wrights figured out in 1902 and which has been integral to 99.8% of successful heavier-than-air aviation ever since. Certainly flight was a idea whose time had come, but without the Wright’s it would have been more than a year or so. Perhaps even a decade or more. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/28 "2015-02-02T17:55:27Z")
My understanding was that a stable, usable control system was the Wrights’ main achievement. Many other inventors had the wings and engine, but when they went aloft, they were at the mercy of wind, fate, and chaotic instability. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/29 "2015-02-02T18:01:13Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Do the names Guglielmo Marconi, Philo Farnsworth, and Charles Babbage mean anything to you? Babbage’s ideas never came to anything. However, my Ex was a great- niece of Philo and I researched him. I have to agree- more than any one other person, Philo "invented’ TV, altho certainly others contributed. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/30 "2015-02-02T18:46:37Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > My understanding may be faulty, but I thought one of the Wright’s achievements was to build a suitably light and powerful engine. While they didn’t invent any form of engine, I don’t believe they used anyone else’s model because they were all too heavy (a flaw that stymied other would-be aviators). Building a to-purpose engine was a signature part of their achievement, even though it was a refinement of existing tech. > > Or is that rong? I’ve always considered this a major part of their success. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Certainly flight was a idea whose time had come, but without the Wright’s it would have been more than a year or so. Perhaps even a decade or more. Alberto Santos-Dumont flew publicly in Paris in 1906. At the time many (most?) Europeans thought it was the first flight ever, because of the Wrights’ secrecy. In any case, that puts a boundary on long it would have taken. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/31 "2015-02-02T18:48:23Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > My understanding was that a stable, usable control system was the Wrights’ main achievement. Many other inventors had the wings and engine, but when they went aloft, they were at the mercy of wind, fate, and chaotic instability. This implies that any of them did get aloft, under power. My recollection is that while a few of them went from high locations to lower ones (didn’t Langley’s ski off the roof of a boathouse, or some such?), no one, absolutely no one, had left earth under craft power, with or without much control, before the Wrights (which was into a stiff headwind, but it was still the craft’s engine that took it up and moved it forward into that wind). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/32 "2015-02-02T18:50:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Alberto Santos-Dumont flew publicly in Paris in 1906. At the time many (most?) Europeans thought it was the first flight ever, because of the Wrights’ secrecy. In any case, that puts a boundary on long it would have taken. Are you saying the Wrights kept their flight secret for two years? IIRC, it was reported across the US within at least the month of occurrence. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/33 "2015-02-02T19:07:08Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > But for inventions like radio, TV, or the computer, their inventors are not well known–and exactly who did invent them is still highly disputed. Why are certain inventors well known and not others? For the computer, specifically the Apple, many people could give you Woz and a lot of people would say Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs isn’t correct but it’s close enough when you’re wondering if they could give you any name at all. I mean, if you ask someone who invented paint or modern carpeting or the electric drill you’re going to get “I don’t know” almost every time. Steve Jobs is at least in the right ball park. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/34 "2015-02-02T19:29:43Z")
There are nice clear inventions of some well known things - [Douglas Engelbart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart) and the computer mouse for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/35 "2015-02-02T19:33:27Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > This implies that any of them did get aloft, under power. My recollection is that while a few of them went from high locations to lower ones (didn’t Langley’s ski off the roof of a boathouse, or some such?), no one, absolutely no one, had left earth under craft power, with or without much control, before the Wrights (which was into a stiff headwind, but it was still the craft’s engine that took it up and moved it forward into that wind). While poorly documented, it appears [Richard Pearse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse) of New Zealand may have accomplished powered flight for some distance about 9 months before the Wrights. He’s never received much credit due to doubts about the record and the fact that he did little followup development. (Also, he crashed.) [QUOTE=Amateur Barbarian] Are you saying the Wrights kept their flight secret for two years? IIRC, it was reported across the US within at least the month of occurrence. [/QUOTE] The flight was announced, but it wasn’t universally accepted for quite some time due to the Wright’s own secrecy about their later flights, in fact not allowing reporters or photographers to be present. From [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers) > [@](#): > > The Wrights sent a telegram about the flights to their father, requesting that he “inform press.”[34] However, the Dayton Journal refused to publish the story, saying the flights were too short to be important. Meanwhile, against the brothers’ wishes, a telegraph operator leaked their message to a Virginia newspaper, which concocted a highly inaccurate news article that was reprinted the next day in several newspapers elsewhere, including Dayton.[68][69] > > The Wrights issued their own factual statement to the press in January.[70] Nevertheless, the flights did not create public excitement—if people even knew about them—and the news soon faded. See also the sections on “Trouble establishing legitimacy” and “European skepticism.” Because of this, the fact that they had flown was treated with skepticism in Europe until 1908, when they made public demonstrations there. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/36 "2015-02-02T20:14:32Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > There are nice clear inventions of some well known things - [Douglas Engelbart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart) and the computer mouse for instance. A lot of other inventions at Xerox Parc also have clear attribution stories. Like Bob Metcalfe with Ethernet and Gary Starkweather with the Laser Printer. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/37 "2015-02-02T21:05:22Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Are you saying the Wrights kept their flight secret for two years? IIRC, it was reported across the US within at least the month of occurrence. It was reported almost immediately, but by reporters who literally hid in bushes spying on the Wrights from a distance. The Wrights themselves didn’t cooperate with reporters for the next several years and it’s possible that they [deliberately sabotaged demonstrations](http://www.thewrightbrothers.org/1904.html) so that they would be left alone. > [@](#): > > May 1904 > 5th Wilbur writes “So far we have not been subjected to the slightest annoyance from visitors or newspapers. I think the reporters are not aware of what is going on.” > > 23rd Wrights invite reporters from Dayton and Cincinnati newspapers to witness attempt to fly; a dozen or so reporters gather at Huffman Prairie with understanding that they will take no photographs and will not embellish on events they see; light rain, wind is too anemic to allow take off; Wilbur attempts take off, results in only a run down track and a flop onto ground > > 25th Rains scrub another attempt with reporters present > > 26th Reporters on hand again when Orville makes short hop between rain squalls reaching 6 to 8’ altitude; engine’s ignition system acts up, only three of four cylinders firing properly; distance covered reported variously as 25’, 30’ and 60’… whichever is correct, the result is only a short hop. Bishop Milton Wright, who is also present (along with Lorin, another Wright son, and his family) notes in his diary, “Many were disappointed.” > Much has been made by some authors that the unsuccessful and disappointing attempts made in front of the reporters were part of a scheme by Wilbur and Orville to ensure that reporters would not bother them again, once they were shown how dismal and unnewsworthy the “flights” would be at Huffman Prairie. That the original Kitty Hawk flights were reported meant very little. Newspapers had been full of claims of successful airships for the previous decade. What most objective observers were waiting for was someone like Santos-Dumont to make his flights in the most public possible way. The Wrights literally stopped flying for all of 1906 and 1907, something that seems inconceivable today, as they worked on engine advances. They didn’t get their due until 1908, when Wilbur went to Europe and showed off a machine years ahead of any of their rivals. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/38 "2015-02-02T21:18:06Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Do the names Guglielmo Marconi, Philo Farnsworth, and Charles Babbage mean anything to you? But you do realise that two of those names also fit pattern of only knowing some of the names of inventors or pioneers… only those that developed the technology for the electronic media ! Then of course there is Edison… well he fits, as the electronic media needs his electrics. And he did use the media for his own campaign to justify his case for DC mains power… he lost, but he did advertise that he invented so much… One of the problems with identifying and making famous inventors in other fields is determining who was first to invent it, and who was merely making engineering developments or copies… For example, Farnsworth’s camera is the reverse process of the CRT … move the electric\<\>light sensitive material from here to there… so is it an invention or a simple reworking ? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/39 "2015-02-02T21:19:48Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > They didn’t get their due until 1908, when Wilbur went to Europe and showed off a machine years ahead of any of their rivals. In what way was it years ahead? Bleriot crossed the Channel in 1909, in a monoplane, which suggests there were significant developments being made elsewhere. Or did Bleriot et al make great strides in a very short space of time after seeing the Wrights’ designs? ---
**Author:** ![BruceVoigt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@BruceVoigt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BruceVoigt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529/40 "2015-02-02T22:39:43Z")
Discovering that a patent sets Piracy in motion. I suggest (if your not wealthy) spending approximately one hundred and fifty dollars to initiate a patent. Once you receive your file # abandon the patent thus saving lots of money that you didn’t have anyway. This will protect you of Law suits from the pirates. Sit back and wait. If your invention is brilliant it won’t be long before a pirate (that has lots of money) improves or changes your idea and files his own patent. Millions have now been spent bringing your invention to fruition and you can easily (with all that free advertising) go out and sell your improved prototypes. As an example SKATE WALKERS — Canada patent file #2,116,091 To raise money I contacted a large sport firm to sell them this patent. I was ignored and a year later came across my invention all improved in nice packaging with patent pending retailing for fifteen dollars. Well my heart sank and I really needed a cup of coffee. I rationalized it this way. They have spent mega bucks on dies, production, packaging etc. I will sit back and wait till these become popular then re approach these people to buy my patent advising them that I could produce my prototype like pop corn and put them in 7 ELEVEN retailing at $3.75 a pr. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-we-know-certain-inventors-and-not-others/711529.md?page=3)